The present invention relates generally to bale wagons and, more particulary, to the formation of a tie-tier on a three-bale-wide bale wagon.
Bale wagons are operable to pick up bales of crop material, such as hay or straw, from a field to form a stack of bales that can be transported to some remote location and unloaded. Generally, the stack of bales is formed when a pickup mechanism elevates bales from the ground onto a first bale receiving table. After a predetermined number of bales have been positioned in a row on the first table, the row of bales is conveyed to a second tier forming table. After a predetermined number of rows of bales have been positioned on the second table, the tier of bales is conveyed onto a third table to form a stack.
It is well known that the provision of a tie-tier, i.e., a tier of bales with the bales arranged in a different configuration than adjacent tiers, greatly stabilizes the stack of bales. Although the tier-tier is sometimes formed by hand, various mechanisms, such as can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,814 issued to Gorden E. Grey on Aug. 6, 1968, and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,927,771 issuing to Lee D. Butler on Dec. 23, 1975, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,519 issued to Donald M. Grey on May 23, 1972, have been provided for automatically forming a tie-tier. However, such mechanisms are relatively expensive and generally are not always applicable to a three-bale-wide bale wagon. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for powering the formation of a tie-tier on a three-bale-wide that can be inexpensively contructed and used in conjunction with the mechanical first table conveying mechanism, as found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,692 issuing to Gene R. Butler on Jan. 28, 1975.